Posted on 05/27/2008 8:23:24 AM PDT by Jay777
For conservatives unhappy with McCain as our candidate, I've heard a few mention Bob Barr as an alternative for their protest votes. Make sure you know who your voting for before you do so, and make sure if your protest is that of principle that you share the same principles with whom you pull the lever for. For some conservatives, Bob Barr's teamwork with the ACLU to fight against the Patriot Act and the NSA's terrorist surveillance program is enough to drop consideration. He has also sided with the ACLU on the immigration issue, opposing local law enforcement from helping to enforce immigration law.
However, for those that lean a little more towards the libertarian side...
(Excerpt) Read more at stoptheaclu.com ...
Excellent Post! That’s my take on McCain too.
I’ll vote for him in November...but that’s only because the alternative (Clinton or Obama) is too awful to contemplate.
That assumes that the vote was McCain's to begin with, which it was not.
Nobody "owes" McCain a vote if he can't convince us that his principles coincide with ours. And "fear of Obama" -- given that McCain agrees with Obama on open-borders, amnesty and most of the issues important to real Conservatives -- is not an effective weapon on those who use their brain enough to realize that one is just as bad as the other -- with the one distinction being that if McCain wins and enacts that kind of legislation, he will have succeeded in changing the outlook of the Republican Party forever and will make Republicans unelectable for decades!
Suggestion. Don’t use your vote as a weapon. Barr doesn’t have a chance in you-know-where of winning. Do you really want Obama in the White House?
Only one of the two is running for President. Like it or not, Barr is not a Presidential candidate despite where his name appears on the ballot. He is running to raise issues and his profile, and has no delusions about becoming President as the result of this election.
As a result, I do not consider him a candidate because his candidacy is not viable.
That leaves determining for yourself whether or not you want to actually be involved in choosing the next President. In choosing Barr you are, in essence, choosing to sit this one out, although you are trying to send a message. But your vote will not be one which helps choose who is President come Jan. 20, 2009. And, as it is your vote, that is your right.
As it stands right now I am choosing to be involved, but that may change. I doubt Barr would get my vote because while I share many libertarian principles, I do not support the platform of the Libertarian Party. I believe that a more powerful/higher profile Libertarian Party will serve ultimately to benefit the Democrats, and that is not something I can support.
I voted by the same rationale in 2004. Four years later I can clearly see the flaw in that rationale.
The argument that a vote on principle could in any way (short of ballot fraud) be a wasted vote is the number one lie that continues to keep the enemies of freedom in public office. To vote from fear rather than from principle is to undermine the very freedom to vote in the first place.
Really???? So you did not like the appointments of Alito and Roberts? You did not like the tax cuts? You did not like someone who has stood up in Iraq instead of surrendering to the al Qaeda terrorists? You did not like someone who kept us out of a Kyoto-type agreement?
I can understand frustration with the way Bush allowed the government spending to sprawl out of control, Bush's immigration stance, and Bush's lack of effective leadership, but boy there are numerous key things that Bush did an excellent job on that a Gore or Kerry would have screwed us royally on.
At least Barr is better than Obama/McCain.
I understand. But sometimes in life we have to do the best we can with the hand that’s been dealt us. Aiding and abetting Obama is simply not something I’m going to do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.